Flexible molding strip with continuous nailing surface



Dec. 31, 1957v R. c. cAMP FLEXIBLE MULDING sTRIP WITH CONTINUOUS NAILING SURFACE Filed Jan. 6, 1954 @FES fixed# x gym United States Patent a continuous nailing surface, and'itis an object. of theinvention' to provide -improved apparatus `of that lcharacter.

The inventionis animprovement over the moldingstrip disclosed and claimed in Patent No. 2,634,467, entitled .Flexible Molding Strip, ,issued April 14, 1953, and assigned to the same assignee as the present. application.

:Molding strips are ycommonly provided for sealing zjoints Vbetween vatiouselements ofa construction, :forexample, rbetween a :kitchen sink and an adjoining kdrainboard, or may serve merely to decorate a construction,5.for

.;example,.where the molding strip is secured .to the-edges :of ya table.

Such molding strips are most commonly vmade of aluminum, stainless steel or plastics. lOne'of Vthe most common types of :molding strip employed for such- ;.purposes is a T-shaped strip which comprises a decorative yface :member which may span a joint, and a leg member .protruding perpendicularly from the rearward surface-of theiface member. The leg member is arranged to extend 4intoanslot provided for that purpose or into the joint beftween 'the adjoiningelements of a construction, and-serves to secure the molding strip to the construction.

A'Frequently it is necessary `to bend such a molding strip to follow 4the contour of a curved surface, in which case y'the'perpendicularly extending leg member tends to buckle,

especially'where the curve isone of small radius. In'such cases, ,it is desirable that the `leg member be slottedor otherwise interrupted atclosely spaced points to prevent buckling. However, in certain applications of molding strip, such as that in which a molding strip is secured to ithe edge surface of a table top with the leg -member'exitendinginto a slot in the edge of the table providedfor fi'f the leg vvmember of the molding strip is slotted, the

`nail or other lfastener may pass through a slot in the leg member and vthereby fail to engage this member. lIt is another object of the invention to provide an improved lmolding strip having a slotted leg member to `provide flexibility of the molding strip while at the same time providing a continuous nailing surface to be engaged by nails or other fasteners.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the leg portion comprises'a double layer of sheet material formed from asingle strip which is folded upon itself along a line Iparallel to the longitudinal edges of the strip. The strip is slotted before folding, with slots at both sides of the jline of the `fold and extending perpendicular thereto. The slots at one side of the line of fold are staggered with respect to the slots on the other side of the line of "the fold, and each slot is connected to one adjacent slot on vthe other side of the line of the fold by a short, third slot extending along the line of the fold. When the strip is folded, the portions of the leg member between adjacent slots assume the form of a plurality of tongues joined together at their bases, the tongue portion of one .'layer of the folded strip overlying one of the slots in the opposed layer of the strip. The base of the leg member,

which is formed by the uninterrupted edge portions of the sheet, is then secured to the face member of the molding strip and a flexible molding strip is thereby obtained,

the leg member ot which presents a continuous nailing 2,817,881I Patented Dec. 31, 1957 ICC f surface to be engaged-byv nails or other fasteners :to /hold `the molding stripin place.

.Preferablythe two layers ofthe legmember arerspaced apart to form a resilientstructure for engaging the two isides of a slotfinithe-table orvother construction with vwhich `the-moldingustrip is tobe employed. In -order that ythis .construction havevsucient strength that 4the resilient engagement ofthe leg membery with the sides of such aslot ,may hold themolding `strip inplaceat least temporarily,

fmoldingstrip having the characteristics described above while 'being simple, reliable and inexpensive to manufacture.

This invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to .fthe following description taken in connection with the -accompanying drawing,y and itsscope will be vpointed out yin the appended claims.

In the drawing in which like parts are designated by like reference numerals,

Figure lis a plan view-of a molding strip killustrating one-.embodiment of theinvention and .showing its application toa table top;

Fig. 2.is aplanview of thezlegmember of the molding strip of Fig. V1 taken before it is folded to its ultimate form;

Fig. -3 is a partial cross-sectionalview taken along the line 3--3 of Fig. l;

Fig. v4 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along 'the line 4 4 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a :cross-sectional view taken along the `line 5-5 of Fig. l.

The molding kstrip illustrated in the drawing is of a form known in the trade as a T-shaped moldingstrip by virtue of the fact that it has' a leg `member 11 extending substantially perpendicularly .from the center of the rear- -ward surface of a face member 12. According to the embodiment of the invention illustrated, 'the leg member 11 is formed from a strip of sheet material 13 which'may, for example, be of galvanized steel. Openings 14 are vprovided in the sheet material V13, the purpose of which is .to provide flexibility of the leg member.

Each opening 14 includes a slot 15 arranged to one side of the center line a-a of the sheet v13 and extending perpendicular thereto. A similar slot 16 lies to the other side of the line a-a, this slot also extending perpendicular to the center line. Finally, a third slot 17, extending along the center line 1 -a, completes the opening 14 by joining the ends of the slots 15 and 16 to 'form one continuous openlng.

It will be noted that the slots 15 and 16 'are spaced apart longitudinally of the sheet 13 by a distance at least requal to the width of the slots; that is, the remaining material in the form of tongues 15a dened by the slots '15 and tongues 16a defined by the slots 16 are at least Ias wide as the slots. It will `now be apparent thatwhen the sheet 13 is folded along the center line a-a, a tongue 15a will overlie each of the slots 16 and a tongue 16a will overlie each of the slots 15, whereby a continuous nailing surface is obtained. The `connection of each pair offslots 15 and 16 by the longitudinal slot.17 breaks the free edge of lthe Vleg member, as may be seen in Fig..1, to provide flexibility of the leg'member. and 16 `are substantially contiguous (as in the drawing) after folding of the sheet 13, the slot 17 may be regarded merely as adjoining extensions of the slots 1S and 16. In this application, however, the slot portions in question are considered as forming, in part or in its entirety, a third slot 17 extending along the center line a--a.

The sheet 13 is preferably of such width that it may be folded along the lines b--b and c-c whereby the leg member itself assumes a T-shaped form. As may be best seen in Fig. 3, the face member 12 may then be folded over the extreme edges of the leg member to form these two members into an integral assembly. If desired, a flat sheet 18 may also be incorporated in the assembly to help prevent bulging of the face member 12 when the molding strip is bent around curves of small radii.

Preferably, the bend along the center line a-a is one of appreciable radius whereby the two layers of material constituting the finished leg member are spaced apart as seen in Fig. 3. The bends along the lines b-b and c-c are then preferably of the complex form seen in Fig. 3, all as is common in the art. The spaced apart sides of the leg member may then resiliently engage the sides of a slot 18 in a table top 19 or other construction with which the molding strip is employed. However, in order that this resilient engagement may be of significant force, it is necessary that the two portions of the leg member be connected at the free edge of the leg member. It is for this reason that part of the material along the center line a-a, as indicated by the reference character 17a, is retained.

The effect of the staggered relationship of the slots 15 and 16 is readily seen in Fig. l. Since the tongues 15a completely overlie the slots 16, and, similarly, the tongues 16a completely overlie the slots 15, a continuous nailing surface is provided. Accordingly, when the molding strip is applied to a table top 19, for example, nails or other fasteners may be driven upwardly through the bottom surface of the table to engage the leg 11 of the molding strip, as seen in Fig. 5. No through openings are present which would permit the nail or other fastener to pass through the area defined by the leg of the molding strip without actually piercing the said leg. The slots 17 have no substantial effect on this continuousnailing surface. since they appear at the extreme free edge of the leg member. Expressed differently, it may be said that the slots 17 merely make the leg of the molding strip slightly narrower than it would otherwise be.

Flexibility which permits bending of the molding strip around corners of small radii is provided, as seen in Figs. l, 3 and 4. It has been found that bending of the molding strip causes any two connected tongues 15a and 16a to twist slightly about each other, whereby the free corner of each tongue is urged slightly outwardly away from the center line of the molding strip. This facilitates the over* lapping of the tongues in the area of a sharp bend as indicated in Figs. l, 3 and 4. In other words, the connected pairs of tongues readily telescope to permit bending of the molding strip on a small radius.

Along with the extreme flexibility of this molding strip and its presenting of a continuous nailing surface, it retains a positive mechanical connection between the two layers of material constituting the leg member of the molding strip. This mechanical connection of the two sides of the leg member by the remaining material 17a at the free edge thereof permits a forceful engagement of the walls of such a slot by the sides of the leg member. Without the interconnecting portions 17a, this would not be possible where the material of the leg member is of a thickness which is commercially feasible for the use intended.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A flexible molding strip comprising an elongated Where the two slots 15` sheet-like face member and an elongated leg member connected thereto, said leg member having a base portion secured to said face member and a free edge spaced from and extending parallel to said face member, said leg member comprising a single sheet of material folded along a longitudinally extending straight line to form a double layer of material, the folded edge of said sheet forming said free edge, said sheet having openings therein, each of said openings comprising a first slot extending perpendicular to said folded edge and being formed in one layer of said material, a second slot extending per pendicular to said folded edge and being formed in the other layer of said material, said `second slot being displaced from said first slot longitudinally of said sheet by a distance at least equal to the width of said slots, and a third slot extending along said folded edge and opening into said rst and second slots, said first and second slots being spaced apart longitudinally of said sheet from other adjacent first and second slots comprising the openings respectively by distances at least equal to the width of said slots.

2. A exible molding strip comprising an elongated sheet-like face member and an elongated leg member connected thereto, said leg member having a base portion secured to said face member and a free edge spaced from and extending parallel to said face member, said leg member comprising a sheet of material folded to form at least a portion of said free edge, said sheethaving a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings therein, each of said openings comprising two staggered transversely extending slots, each of said slots being substantially perpendicular to the line of fold and longitudinally spaced apart by a distance at least equal to the width of said slots and being connected by a longitudinally extending third slot.

3. A molding strip insert comprising a base, a leg member secured perpendicularly to said base and having a free edge spaced from and extending parallel to said base, said leg member comprising a sheet of material folded to form at least a portion of said free edge, said sheet having a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings therein, each of said openings comprising two staggered transversely extending slots, each of said slots being substantially perpendicular to the line of fold and longitudinally spaced apart by a distance at least equal to the width of said slots and being connected by a longitudinally extending third slot.

4. A flexible molding strip comprising an elongated sheet-like face member and an elongated leg member connected thereto, said leg member having a base portion secured to said face member and a free edge spaced from and extending parallel to said face member, said leg member comprising two layers of sheet material secured to each other along said free edge, each of said layers having a plurality of slots extending substantially perpendicular to said free edge and spaced apart over the major portion of their entire length by distances at least equal to the width of said slots, the slots in one of said layers of material being longitudinally staggered with respect to the slots in said other layer of material, the

1 amount of stagger being such that no portion of any slot in one of said layers overlies any portion of a slot in the other of said layers, said free edge having a plurality of slots, each of said free edge slots connecting a slot in one of said layers of material with a longitudinally adjacent slot in the other of said layers of material.

lHoward Dec. 22, 1931 'Astrella Apr. 14, 1953 OTHER REFERENCES Architectural Forum, June 1942, p. 68. 

